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Pierre Rodrigue Damasteel Petty

Please bear with me as this will be my first review and I have a rather limited experience with good knives. I took delivery of Pierre's 150mm Damasteel Petty yesterday, and I have to say, it is a work of art. http://i631.photobucket.com/albums/u...icture1940.jpg. After my first day of use, my impressions are as follows. The fit and finish are first rate; everything is beautifully done, choil and spine nicely rounded and smooth. The ironwood handle is very comfortable and fits my average sized hand well. The weight is 130 gm and it is slightly handle heavy, with the balance point being slightly behind the bolster. I find that I like this as it seems to me that the blade (especially the tip) seems livelier in my hand. The blade came sharp, but not scary sharp. I am not sure what level Pierre takes it to (maybe he'll let me know), but it seems similar to what Devin puts on his knives, and that is more than fine for me at this point (I'm no expert at different sharpness levels, as I haven't got any stones yet, but I just got Dave's stropping kit so I'm on my way). After running out to the store to pick up the requisite number of offerings to the god of blade testing (and changing the menu to accommodate said offerings) , I started cutting. The knife made short work of half an onion. For comparison, I used my DT ITK 240 Gyuto on the other half (I know they are not really comparable, but it was either that or one of my Henkle 4 stars). I would have to say that the DT was a smoother going through the onion, however, if I hadn't of cut them side by side, I probably would not have noticed a real difference. I then moved on to a green pepper, mushrooms, and carrot, which it went through with little effort. Again, I believe the Gyuto felt smoother, however I find that I like the tactile feedback that the petty gives me. At this point, I am attributing the difference in feel to the texture of the Damasteel surface, as compared to the Gyuto's mirrored finish (sounds logical to me, anyway). Finally, knowing that the blade is flat ground, I headed for the potato and apple. The apple took some effort to get through as compared to everything else, but, it's apple. I must say, that with a flat profile, I was expecting a lot of sticking and I did get some, but a lot less than I was expecting. I was able to get through 1/2 a russet potato, and more than half of the slices stayed in place on the board. There was no wedging or steering with any of the food with the blade cutting perpendicular or at acute or obtuse angles. Finally, after slicing some cooked chicken breasts, which it did without effort, I tried some in-hand work, peeling an apple. My skills are not great, but once again, it performed well with little effort on my part. Well, that's about it. My first custom knife and I foresee a bleak future for my wallet (I already have several others going with Marko, and I have talked to Pierre about a paring knife to go along with the Petty and the carving fork I have on order. You know, after reading the last line, I may have to look up 12 step programs...

Ha! You said bear! Sorry. thanks for taking the time to do a review. As far as sharpening, I set the bevel, and sharpen to a point arm hair is easily removed. Thats it! After talking to a lot of customers early on, they advised me sharp enough was good enough, as everybody sharpens to suit their style.

Thank you Pierre. At this point in my development as a knife knut, it is plenty sharp for me. As I start sharpening, perhaps it will change, but coming from what I used before, the differences are astronomical.

I feel like a knuckle as I have never done a proper review of my Pierre knives, but I have one of his petties and it was seriously the most used knife in the house all summer. In fact I can say without hesitation that the knives Pierre made for me are the most used knives in my house. I take at least one of them out 2-3 times per day. And btw, the three knives in Pierre's avatar are the ones I own

I'm guessing the edge just needs a touch of refinement. My Rodrigue blows through everything, with absolute ease. It's my best all around knife, by far. So much so that my next blade will be a Rodrigue and then i'm hitting the pause button for a while. I honestly think between my two Rodrigues (at that point) and a decent parer, I won't even need any new knives for a long while.
If I were you, I'd send your petty to Eamon to tune up. He sharpened mine a while back and I haven't even needed to strop it since (it's likely my most used knife).
Thanks for the review. It's always great to read what people have to 'say' about the great toys that are out there.